diff --git a/src/App.tsx b/src/App.tsx
index 2b47c039a..ced914fe4 100644
--- a/src/App.tsx
+++ b/src/App.tsx
@@ -6,12 +6,10 @@ import {
   useLoaderData,
   useLocation,
   useNavigate,
-  useRouteLoaderData,
   useSearchParams,
 } from 'react-router-dom'
 
 import { AppHeader } from '@src/components/AppHeader'
-import { useEngineCommands } from '@src/components/EngineCommands'
 import { EngineStream } from '@src/components/EngineStream'
 import Gizmo from '@src/components/Gizmo'
 import { LowerRightControls } from '@src/components/LowerRightControls'
@@ -22,11 +20,9 @@ import { useAbsoluteFilePath } from '@src/hooks/useAbsoluteFilePath'
 import { useCreateFileLinkQuery } from '@src/hooks/useCreateFileLinkQueryWatcher'
 import { useEngineConnectionSubscriptions } from '@src/hooks/useEngineConnectionSubscriptions'
 import { useHotKeyListener } from '@src/hooks/useHotKeyListener'
-import { writeProjectThumbnailFile } from '@src/lib/desktop'
 import useHotkeyWrapper from '@src/lib/hotkeyWrapper'
 import { isDesktop } from '@src/lib/isDesktop'
 import { PATHS } from '@src/lib/paths'
-import { takeScreenshotOfVideoStreamCanvas } from '@src/lib/screenshot'
 import {
   billingActor,
   sceneInfra,
@@ -85,10 +81,6 @@ export function App() {
   const projectName = project?.name || null
   const projectPath = project?.path || null
 
-  const [commands] = useEngineCommands()
-  const loaderData = useRouteLoaderData(PATHS.FILE) as IndexLoaderData
-  const lastCommandType = commands[commands.length - 1]?.type
-
   // Run LSP file open hook when navigating between projects or files
   useEffect(() => {
     onProjectOpen({ name: projectName, path: projectPath }, file || null)
@@ -127,28 +119,6 @@ export function App() {
 
   useEngineConnectionSubscriptions()
 
-  // Generate thumbnail.png when loading the app
-  useEffect(() => {
-    if (isDesktop() && lastCommandType === 'execution-done') {
-      setTimeout(() => {
-        const projectDirectoryWithoutEndingSlash = loaderData?.project?.path
-        if (!projectDirectoryWithoutEndingSlash) {
-          return
-        }
-        const dataUrl: string = takeScreenshotOfVideoStreamCanvas()
-        // zoom to fit command does not wait, wait 500ms to see if zoom to fit finishes
-        writeProjectThumbnailFile(dataUrl, projectDirectoryWithoutEndingSlash)
-          .then(() => {})
-          .catch((e) => {
-            console.error(
-              `Failed to generate thumbnail for ${projectDirectoryWithoutEndingSlash}`
-            )
-            console.error(e)
-          })
-      }, 500)
-    }
-  }, [lastCommandType, loaderData?.project?.path])
-
   useEffect(() => {
     // Not too useful for regular flows but on modeling view refresh,
     // fetch the token count. The regular flow is the count is initialized
diff --git a/src/components/EngineStream.tsx b/src/components/EngineStream.tsx
index 25ce52827..b6423e1fc 100644
--- a/src/components/EngineStream.tsx
+++ b/src/components/EngineStream.tsx
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import {
   engineViewIsometricWithoutGeometryPresent,
 } from '@src/lib/utils'
 import { DEFAULT_DEFAULT_LENGTH_UNIT } from '@src/lib/constants'
+import { createThumbnailPNGOnDesktop } from '@src/lib/screenshot'
 
 export const EngineStream = (props: {
   pool: string | null
@@ -49,7 +50,7 @@ export const EngineStream = (props: {
 
   const engineStreamState = useSelector(engineStreamActor, (state) => state)
 
-  const { file } = useRouteLoaderData(PATHS.FILE) as IndexLoaderData
+  const { file, project } = useRouteLoaderData(PATHS.FILE) as IndexLoaderData
   const last = useRef<number>(Date.now())
   const videoWrapperRef = useRef<HTMLDivElement>(null)
 
@@ -122,6 +123,12 @@ export const EngineStream = (props: {
             })
           }
         }
+
+        if (project && project.path) {
+          createThumbnailPNGOnDesktop({
+            projectDirectoryWithoutEndingSlash: project.path,
+          })
+        }
       })
       .catch(trap)
   }
diff --git a/src/lib/screenshot.ts b/src/lib/screenshot.ts
index 4f1539157..0efd89493 100644
--- a/src/lib/screenshot.ts
+++ b/src/lib/screenshot.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+import { isDesktop } from '@src/lib/isDesktop'
+import { writeProjectThumbnailFile } from '@src/lib/desktop'
+
 export function takeScreenshotOfVideoStreamCanvas() {
   const canvas = document.querySelector('[data-engine]')
   const video = document.getElementById('video-stream')
@@ -41,3 +44,27 @@ export default async function screenshot(): Promise<string> {
 
   return takeScreenshotOfVideoStreamCanvas()
 }
+
+export function createThumbnailPNGOnDesktop({
+  projectDirectoryWithoutEndingSlash,
+}: {
+  projectDirectoryWithoutEndingSlash: string
+}) {
+  if (isDesktop()) {
+    setTimeout(() => {
+      if (!projectDirectoryWithoutEndingSlash) {
+        return
+      }
+      const dataUrl: string = takeScreenshotOfVideoStreamCanvas()
+      // zoom to fit command does not wait, wait 500ms to see if zoom to fit finishes
+      writeProjectThumbnailFile(dataUrl, projectDirectoryWithoutEndingSlash)
+        .then(() => {})
+        .catch((e) => {
+          console.error(
+            `Failed to generate thumbnail for ${projectDirectoryWithoutEndingSlash}`
+          )
+          console.error(e)
+        })
+    }, 500)
+  }
+}